


When Hope Is Lost (You Are Too)

by CWMaddy



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark, Gen, Gore, Not A Fix-It, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 08:03:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9114244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CWMaddy/pseuds/CWMaddy
Summary: Warren doesn't join Apocalypse and pays the price. What can one do with power and no way to use it?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sorry for this.

It was a horrendous sight. Broken shards of glass littered the stained concrete. The place reeked of burnt flesh and coppery blood. A chilling breeze whistled through the ajar doors, and every now and then the warehouse creaked in a tired warning. 

Moonlight was glowing through the windows, and it could've been peaceful if the circumstances had been different. If the mood hadn't been as dreadful as it was. 

No one could speak. They only stared, aghast at the scene before them. This was not what they had been expecting on the way here. 

Two weeks after Apocalypse had been brought down, Ororo approached Charles with a somber face and a remorseful mind. She told Charles she couldn't stay another night at the school until they knew the true extent of what she had done while under the influence of En Sabah Nur. 

He'd seen brief flashes at the forefront of her mind:

A frowning boy with feathery wings. 

Terrified faces and blinding white lights. 

Dark tunnels and floating sand. 

He refused to pry any deeper, and agreed when she asked to be taken to Berlin.

He hadn't expected _this_. This was a nightmare, to be put lightly. It was just Storm, Beast, and himself. A wise choice, Charles decided with finality, the others were much too young to witness such a sight. 

Now, Ororo wasn't much older, not in body anyway. But in mind, that was a different story. It was clear even to a non-telepath that she had had her fair share of human horrors throughout her lifetime. 

Charles stared down at the young boy's corpse –which was currently being swamped with flies and other pests– his eyebrows creased and mouth tilted in a deep scowl. 

The boy looked to have been turned inside out, his abdomen bearing deep wounds and skin caked in black blood that was long since dried. 

_No_ , Charles realized. It wasn't just blood that was dark of color. Some of it was the blonde's leathery skin, which seemed to have been burned severely. 

Shed feathers surrounded the ground about him, all varying in states of disarray. Some were burnt to a crisp, others looked to have been trampled on. 

Warren –Charles plucked the name from Ororo's head– had glazed over eyes that stared up in an endless look of utter fear at the unknown. But Charles had a feeling that he knew what the young mutant had been afraid of.

Charles looked to the girl that'd brought them to this horror show, and wasn't surprised by her expression. Ororo looked sick, her eyes haunted as she seemed to be recalling the first night she'd visited the building. And he knew, then, exactly what had happened here.

There was only one word on the telepath's lips. 

_"Why?"_

Why did she bring them here? Why did she do this? Why did she wait so long to tell them?

She let out a sob, shoulders shaking under what had to be an unforgiving amount of guilt and self hatred. 

"Psylocke said she knew a mutant that was powerful enough to join Apocalypse. No one expected him to say no." 

Tears dribbled down her cheeks as she spoke. 

 

_Screaming. Bones snapped and twisted in horrible, unnatural ways; newly-created metal was bending and screeching. Warren clawed at the concrete below him, as he was bent practically in half._

_The wings were halfway formed when he began slamming his hands on the floor as he roared, "No. NO! Stop it!" Apocalypse did as was requested._

_"I'm restoring you to your full potential, my child. A gift, if you will," He tells Warren wistfully._

_"I don't want your_ gifts. _You can't bribe me into joining your cult!"_

_Apocalypse looks almost disappointed for a short moment, but then his face returns to its calculatingly cold expression._

_"Very well. Do away with him." He motions his hand towards Ororo._

_She says nothing but she feels only sadness for this fallen angel as she shoots him up with white hot electricity. He's already dead by the time that he hits the floor._

_He didn't even have the chance to scream._

_There was a small radio still blaring rock music, unaffected by the events that had just recently unfolded. Apocalypse sneers and flicks his hand, instantly rendering the machine to nothing but dirt and pebbles._

_He turns his back on the young mutant's body, and his two horsemen follow suit._

 

"This is what happens when you refuse a god." Hank's voice is just above a whisper, both disbelief and anger tainting his words.

"No," said Charles, "this is what happens when you refuse a monster."

"I killed him. _I'm_ the monster," Ororo said solemnly. 

Hank rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You were only following orders. And based off what happened to this kid, it was a smart move."

Charles recalls a time when similar words had escaped his mouth. It was many years ago, on a beach in Cuba. 

 

_"There are_ thousands _of men on those ships! They're just following orders."_

_"I've been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again."_

 

Times were so different now. 

Now, it seemed only natural for children to go to war. He'd grasped the hearts of so many only to lose them far too early. 

Sean. Raven. Angel. Darwin. Erik. _Alex._

Who was next in this endless loop of gaining and losing loved ones? Would there ever come a time when fate would change face and for once set a kind hand on the bitter lives of suffering mutants? What kind of safe haven was Charles running if his school was to be targeted constantly by new threats, and how much longer would he be allowed to protect it? 

As if Hank was the one that could read thoughts, the man placed a hand on Charles' shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 

The telepath replied with a tight but not ungrateful smile, however he couldn't help but wonder if his decades-long companion was next on the list of friends to be ripped from his life.

"What now, Professor?" Hank asked. Both mutants stared at him for commands, and Charles was reminded that he was the one many went to seek out for answers. 

They looked to him when they were in need of advice; in him they saw a strong but caring role model and guardian. He'd always thought that when it came to mutants in need, then he would always be there to help.

Obviously that wasn't the case. Warren's death was proof enough of that.

Charles always prided himself on not losing hope, always having faith. But what if that wasn't enough anymore? Hope couldn't protect them any more than the semblance of a dream could. 

It didn't look like Charles was doing very much protecting either. It looked like the only thing he'd been succeeding at lately was putting his students in danger. 

Maybe he wasn't the one meant to save mutants after all. Maybe he just made matters worse. 

"Professor?" Ororo's voice cut him from his thoughts. The two of them were still waiting for his response. 

Charles looked down at his hands that were gripping the arm rests of his chair. He knew what they were expecting, but he had no wise words of experience or great knowledge to give them. 

He had to face the truth. 

Charles looked up at Hank, his glance shifting to Ororo and back again. He took a breath. 

"I don't know."


End file.
